A comparison of workloads of physician-gastroenterologists and other consultant physicians. Prepared on behalf of the Clinical Services Committee, British Society of Gastroenterology.

In response to a workload questionnaire, carried out as part of an enquiry into manpower needs in gastroenterology, replies were received from 17 health regions, relating to 86 hospitals and 135 consultant gastroenterologists. The average yearly number of deaths and discharges of patients under the care of gastroenterologists was 992, while that of patients cared for by consultant physicians in other specialties was 679. When daycase admissions were also included, there were 1,553 annual discharges per gastroenterologist as compared with 871 for other physicians. These 682 extra cases per gastroenterologist largely represent the additional workload of gastrointestinal endoscopy.